KORYO Tours, specialising in small group tours to North Korea, is hopeful that the government in Pyongyang will soon lift a blanket ban on tourists.

North Korea closed its borders to travellers in late-October and require diplomats and businesspeople to undergo a 21-day quarantine to ensure that they are Ebola-free.

 “There has been no firm news on when we might be able to start sending groups into North Korea again, but we are very hopeful of an announcement later this month or perhaps early in February,” Simon Cockerell, general manager of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, told TTG Asia e-Daily.

 “Our contacts at the Ministry of Sport have told us that we could start tours again in 1Q, but nothing official has been said yet.”

No cases of Ebola have been reported anywhere in Asia since the serious outbreak in West Africa last year, but North Korea is taking no chances and had reacted similarly in 2009, when avian flu was confirmed in parts of Asia.

Koryo Tours is hoping the border will be open again before the Pyongyang Marathon on April 12, with dozens of foreign runners already in training for the event. The company has so far had to cancel five tours to date, with its clients drawn primarily from the US and Europe.

“We also have a growing number of visitors from Singapore, Hong Kong and other parts of East Asia,” said Cockerell, who added that tourists are taking advantage of the recent weakness of the euro on global currency markets to book their euro-denominated vacations with Koryo Tours.

The company works with more than 20 travel partners around the world and can be contacted through its website www.koryogroup.com.

ALL Nippon Airways (ANA) is introducing a new daily Kuala Lumpur flight this September.

 The new service is meant to allow travellers departing Kuala Lumpur to make a more seamless connection for onward travel to North America.

ANA will kickstart flights from Tokyo-Narita on September 1, 2015 at 17.20 to touch down in Kuala Lumpur at 23.53 on a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Return journeys leave Kuala Lumpur at 07.00 and arrive in Narita at 15.00.

ANA has also announced it will bump up frequencies on the following routes out of Tokyo-Narita: to Singapore from seven to 14 weekly flights starting June 11; to Bangkok from seven to 14 weekly flights starting August 1; to Honolulu from seven to 14 weekly flights starting July 17; and to Chengdu from four to seven flights a week starting March 29.

ANOTHER mixed development project will rise in Johor’s Iskandar region, a joint project between Chinese state-owned Greenland Group and Iskandar Waterfront City.

The RM3 billion (US$830.9 million) Tebrau Bay Waterfront City development will occupy the eastern flank of Johor Bahru, spanning Tebrau Bay to Pasir Gudang, according to Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times.

The paper reported that the first phase will see a snow world theme park, an opera house, a hospital with a traditional Chinese medicine niche, and a school.

Development will take 15 years.

Besides Tebrau Bay Waterfront City, Greenland has tied up with Iskandar Waterfront Holdings for an integrated property project in Danga Bay, also in Iskandar.

THE Asia Premium Travel Mart will fill a gap in the Asia-Pacific luxury travel sector when it debuts as South-east Asia’s first tradeshow dedicated to the high life.

The B2B tradeshow will be held May 26-28 at SMX Manila, bringing together Philippine luxury inbound and outbound travel professionals to showcase the Philippines as a luxury destination and spotlight Asian luxury.

Organisers are S8 Exhibitions, Corporate International Travel  & Tours, Light Miles Travel, Celebrate Life Travel & Leisure, Luxus Pacific and Rajah Tours.

“The only show focused on luxury closest to the South-east Asian region is ILTM  Shanghai, which doesn’t sell too much of Asia,” said Simon Ang, S8 Exhibitions’ corporate secretary.

The show targets 150 to 200 exhibitors with major representation from Asia-Pacific (50 per cent), and a decent showing from Europe (30 per cent) plus the Americas and the Middle East (20 per cent).

Some 60 business meetings with pre-qualified buyers are expected over the three-day show, which will also have a Department of Tourism (DoT)-hosted opening event and a closing gala featuring world-renowned Filipino performer Lea Salonga.

Shan David, president, S8 Exhibitions, said post-fam programmes would take buyers to Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, Palawan and Laoag-Vigan.

“Even if the north doesn’t have many luxury accommodation, we will make it a luxury experience for our buyers; we have three UNESCO sites, so the culture and heritage experience is there. We also know some buyers may not want to see beach destinations (only),” David added.

The tradeshow is anticipated to become an annual event.

Verna Buensuceso, officer in charge, market development group, DoT said: “This show ties in very well with the direction the DoT is going, as the It’s more fun in the Philippinescampaign moves toward the promotion of premium destinations.”

THE Philippines is reaping the rewards of a growing interest in sea travel in Asia, especially as more cruise ships are calling at ports in the region.

Wally Cervantes, vice president and general manager of Arpan Air, which represents Royal Caribbean Cruises in the Philippines, commented that cruise operators are bringing more ships to the region and looking for new destinations to call at.

“(The Philippines is) a beneficiary of that upsurge, not only as a destination but also as a source market,” he said, sharing that the company will welcome seven ships this year in comparison with last year’s three.

Scheduled cruises in 2015 will stop in 10 ports including Manila, Boracay and Puerto Princesa, but some cruise lines are considering options in the country’s north.

Next month, the 1,814-pax Celebrity Century will make its maiden call at Manila and Boracay as part of a 14-day Vietnam-Philippines itinerary on a round trip from Singapore, with passengers mainly longhaul fly-cruise travellers from the US and Europe, said Cervantes.

Philippine tourism undersecretary, Benito Bengzon Jr, who spearheads cruise market development, said: “The numbers clearly show that cruise business is growing, and we’d like to take advantage of all the ships coming to South-east Asia.

“Eventually we expect Manila or another port like Cebu to establish itself as a hub for inter-island itineraries, which is one of the Philippines’ distinct advantages.”

The Philippines is tapping the cruise segment with industry and multilateral partnerships last year: a collaboration with Vietnam; the Asia Cruise Fund with Hainan, Hong Kong and Taiwan; and industry workshops and port inspections with the Cruise Lines International Association.

PATINA Hotels & Resorts and Telos Investment have signed an agreement to operate The Patina, Thanburudhoo Maldives, the first resort under the new brand and the second Patina after The Patina, Capitol Singapore due to open in 2Q.

The new resort, scheduled to be launched in 2017, is located in North Malé Atoll, accessible in 20 minutes by speedboat from Malé International Airport.

With 40 luxury overwater villas and 30 landed villas, the property will be designed by the world-renowned architect Kerry Hill, whose forte is contemporary luxury resort design in tropical Asia.

The Patina, Thanburudhoo Maldives will come with leisure facilities that include a surf centre, dive school, spa, swimming pool, yoga & pilates fitness studio, cooking school, children’s club, a library club lounge with a screening room, and F&B offerings with bars. A semi-outdoor, multi-function area also caters for weddings and bespoke events.

Located south of the island and renowned as one of the countries’ top surfing islands, The Patina, Thanburudhoo Maldives also hopes to attract surfers with its “rides of a lifetime”, a statement said.